


no wrong side to get up on

by zhooshybat



Series: it's a nice day to start again [1]
Category: Velvet Goldmine
Genre: Implied Sexual Content, Implied kink, Morning After, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-04 13:30:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20471822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhooshybat/pseuds/zhooshybat
Summary: Mandy's had her fair share of morning afters, but none of them have felt quite like this...and for the first time in ages that feels like a good thing.





	no wrong side to get up on

**April 22, 1984**

When Mandy first wakes up — or, more accurately, is pawed into half-consciousness by a sudden weight plopping onto her chest accompanied by claws kneading at her collar and a very insistent meow in her ear— she feels like something is different but can't quite pin down why or what. Dinah's wake-up call has been a daily occurrence for almost five years now, so it's definitely not that. And while the fact that waking to Curt's arm draped over her waist and his breath warming her neck on a regular basis is still astounding, it's certainly not something that would confuse her even at—she squints at the clock, wrinkling her nose when she sees its not quite seven yet.

"Jesus, Di, couldn't you at least wait until the sun's actually up?" she groans, although she can't keep the faintest smirk off her face as her cat just trills and nudges at her chin in reply. So far, everything is entirely matching up to her normal routine, and yet Mandy can't shake the thought that she's forgetting about something.

She's about ready to just pin the niggling feeling on an unremembered dream and puts a hand out to start getting up when the mattress shifts and another hand reaches out over Curt's sleeping form, fumbling blindly in Dinah's direction

"I've got it. Go back to sleep," mumbles a voice that, even half-muffled as its owner is still in the process of getting up themselves, Mandy recognises, and _that_ brings the events of the previous night flooding back. The sight of Arthur standing up to reveal his bare chest and wrists marked by faint pink lines and splotches adds even more details to make it clear they weren't just very vivid dreams. She even has to bite her tongue against a suggestive noise or comment when he leans down to scratch between Dinah's ears to give her an even better view of her handiwork.

While her cat is apparently more than willing to go with this change in routine, if the way she nearly springs off Mandy's ribcage is anything to go by, Mandy herself is—not exactly confused; unlike the old days she has no question about who the third party in the bed is, and even if it has been well over a decade since she's had to navigate this particular situation it's not new.

Well. Waking up to two other people in her bed might not be, but everything else about this morning definitely is.

At least she's not the only one feeling a little unsure, if the blush Mandy can see blossoming across Arthur's face even through the dim barely-morning light is anything to go by. He ducks his head, and if her own breath wasn't practically frozen into silence Mandy might not have been able to make out the words he's saying more to the floor than her. 

"I'll go make us some breakfast, yeah?"

That shouldn't sound ridiculous; Mandy knows that's something a lot of people apparently do for even one night stands, but it's so far from _her_ normal that for a couple seconds she just stares, before her mind finally gets a handle on what's going on.

"Ah—yeah, sure. Thanks, luv."

While that little endearment normally wouldn't mean a thing—she still says it to strangers more of years of habit than anything else—now the echo of it makes something knot up in her breast and she's worried for a moment that the flippant turn of phrase might have struck the wrong chord until Arthur glances up and gives her a small, shy smile before he turns to the door.

There are several long, still moments after Arthur walks out of the bedroom where Mandy just stares after him still half propped up on one arm, and it's not just glancing around and seeing the half-melted candle and coiled rope on the nightstand that keeps her frozen to the spot. It feels like she's waiting for something horrible to happen, but can't figure out what.

It's only when she turns back to Curt's still-sleeping form that she realises that she's waiting for him to wake up and tell her to leave before Arthur gets back. That she'd been expecting Arthur to be silent and distant, not adorably awkward and sweet.

She's waiting for the too-familiar wave of jealousy and heartbreak to crash over her, drowning this impossibly wonderful thing she's found until she's left alone with the dull ache of resignation she'd become accustomed to until Arthur reminded her she actually did have a story that didn't belong to someone else.

But it isn't there. Instead, when she looks at Curt while listening to the sounds of Arthur talking to Dinah and poking around the cupboards, all she feels is...

Happiness. Not the breath-stealing adrenaline rush of ecstasy that had sometimes been more of a drug than anything she ingested in those early days when dragging a stranger into bed with her husband had felt great just because it was naughty or sinful or whatever word strangers wanted to apply to something they didn't even want to try understand.

Of course, it's not like most of the world would understand _this_ either. But while that knowledge might make Mandy grind her teeth at the reminder of how little things have actually changed, she finds that she doesn't want to throw this in everyone's faces the same way she had all of her and Brian's little trysts.

Because this isn't the world's. It's _hers._ And while that means it might not bring her the same sort of giddy rush of being naughty that she used to think had to go hand in hand with this particular brand of sex, she finds that it's warming something inside her that she'd been pretty certain had been frozen solid years ago. Which is itself more than a little terrifying because it's a reminder that she really does have something to lose now, just when she'd gotten used to having nothing worth holding onto.

The breath-taking realisation of how much her own small world has changed in just a few months is however just a little much to contemplate this early in the day, much less before she's had her coffee.

So Mandy doesn't let herself ruminate more on what last night means, what the three of them _are_ now or anything else. Instead, she eases back down to rest her head on Curt's chest with a soft sigh, letting the unfamiliar sounds of Arthur moving around the kitchen and the well-known rhythm Curt's heartbeat lull her back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! One of the cowriters here. I wanted to briefly gush a little, since the vast majority of the actual wordsmithery here was the other cowriter's work.
> 
> It’s part of a sprawling universe that I had planted a few seeds for in my own head, and then I met another gardener who was just as passionate about these plants as I am, and we discovered this particular plot of land has been very receptive to collaborative gardening. 
> 
> I’m so excited our first plant baby has sprouted and started to bloom, and I’m so thankful for them and their endless creativity and support and excellent input and, of course, giving me the opportunity to help with some really beautiful pieces. This is one of those, and I hope you all loved it as much as I did. ♥️


End file.
